What I Have Lived For · John

为你读英语美文·第238期：What I Have Lived for 我为什么而活着嘉宾：John McAuley坐标：香港，微信首播John McAuley先生是主播严喆大学时的外教，也是严喆的忘年交。John是美国人，曾在纽约联合国总部工作过10年，后来分别在日本，非洲，台湾，大连工作过，现在在香港工作和生活，丰富的人生经历让John的声音充满故事。John是我们的老朋友，曾多次为你读英语美文。今天，我们再次荣幸地邀请到John录制节目。 John在香港的家里，为你读英国哲学家罗素的作品《我为什么而活着》。《我为什么而活着》是《罗素自传》的序言，写于1956年7月25日，从文中可以窥见罗素的思想境界和人格，也引发我们思考：我为什么而活着？What I Have Lived for我为什么而活着作者：伯兰特·罗素Threepassions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: thelonging for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for thesuffering of mankind.对爱情的渴望，对知识的追求，对人类苦难不可遏制的同情心，这三种纯洁而无比强烈的激情支配着我的一生。Thesepassions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a waywardcourse, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.这三种激情，就像飓风一样，在深深的苦海上，肆意地把我吹来吹去，吹到濒临绝望的边缘。Ihave sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy sogreat that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hoursof this joy.我寻求爱情，首先因为爱情给我带来狂喜，它如此强烈，以致我经常愿意为了几小时的欢愉而牺牲生命中的其他一切。Ihave sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness-that terrible lonelinessin which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into thecold unfathomable lifeless abyss.我寻求爱情，其次是因为爱情解除孤寂——那是一颗震颤的心，在世界的边缘，俯瞰那冰冷死寂、深不可测的深渊。Ihave sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mysticminiature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets haveimagined.我寻求爱情，最后是因为在爱情的结合中，我看到圣徒和诗人们所想象的天空景象的神秘缩影。Thisis what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this iswhat at last I have found.这就是我所寻求的，虽然它对人生似乎过于美好，然而最终我还是得到了它。Withequal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understandthe hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine.我以同样的热情寻求知识，我希望了解人的心灵，我希望知道星星为什么闪闪发光。And Ihave tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which numberholds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.我试图理解毕达哥拉斯的思想威力，即数字支配着万物流转。这方面我获得一些成就，然而并不多。Pythagoras: 毕达哥拉斯, 思想家，哲学家，数学家，认为“万物皆数”，“数是万物的本质”，提出勾股定理Loveand knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upwards toward the heavens.But always pity brought me back to earth.爱情和知识，尽可能地把我引上天堂，但同情心总把我带回尘世。Echoesof cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victimstortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, andthe whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what humanlife should be.痛苦的呼号的回声在我心中回荡，饥饿的儿童，被压迫者折磨的受害者，被儿女视为可厌负担的无助的老人，以及充满孤寂、贫穷和痛苦的整个世界，都是对人类应有生活的嘲讽。Ilong to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.我渴望减轻这些不幸，但是我无能为力，而且我自己也深受其害。Thishas been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it againif the chance were offered me.这就是我的一生，我觉得它值得活。如果有机会的话，我还乐意再活一次。 录制：John，策划：严喆，制作：永清文字，音乐，图片非商业用途，版权归作者或版权方所有▎节目首发，背景音乐，图文资料，更多推送敬请关注微信公众号：为你读英语美文，ID：readenglishforyou